


Childcare Arrangements

by JohnAmendAll



Category: Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 15:56:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1134629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnAmendAll/pseuds/JohnAmendAll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On their latest assignment, Sapphire and Steel need Silver's expertise. But he needs some help from them, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Childcare Arrangements

**Author's Note:**

> Arose from discussion of [Intersection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/519723/chapters/1041719) by [lost_spook](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook); I jokingly suggested that if Silver happened to have a daughter with the protagonist, "Acanthite" would be a nice name.
> 
> The [element_flash](http://element-flash.livejournal.com/) October challenge ('Temper tantrum') was also an influence, though the finished work doesn't really fit the prompt.

At such a late hour, it was a fair bet that the two people in the jeweller's shop had no right to be there. But since the doors remained firmly locked, the windows securely shuttered, and the alarm untriggered, it was hardly likely that anyone would notice the intruders' presence. 

"That one," Sapphire said, indicating one of the numerous glass-topped cabinets around the perimeter of the shop. 

Steel placed his hand over the cabinet's lock. There was a click from its mechanism, as hidden bolts retracted; then he lifted the lid. Sapphire reached in, touching each piece of jewellery in turn, until she came to a complex, jewel-studded brooch. 

"This is the keystone," she said. 

"Is it still holding?" 

"Barely. It's been damaged and repaired — the appearance is a good enough facsimile, but of course they couldn't match the deep structure or the age of the material." 

Steel folded his arms. "Don't tell me. This requires..." 

"The services of a technician," Silver's voice said, behind them. 

Steel and Sapphire turned. Silver, as they had half-expected, was perched on the counter, wearing one of his usual stylish suits. What they had certainly not expected to see was the toddler in his arms, clad in a glittering silver fairy dress. 

"This is Acanthite," Silver said. "Acanthite, say hello to Sapphire and Steel." 

Rather than answering, Acanthite hid her face in Silver's waistcoat. 

"Sorry about this," Silver said, stepping gracefully to the floor. "She can be a little shy of strangers." 

Steel took a pace forward. "I hope this isn't just your sense of humour. What's she doing here?" 

"I'm bringing my daughter to work. What does it look like?" Silver ruffled the child's strawberry-blonde curls. "Now, Canthy, Daddy has some important work to do, so Sapphire here is going to look after you." 

_I am?_ Sapphire asked. 

Silver quirked an eyebrow. _You'd rather leave it to Steel?_

_Point taken._

Gently, Silver set the little girl on her feet, then crossed to the cabinet where Steel was waiting. 

"Ah," he said, running his fingers over the brooch. "Clumsy work. I'll have to take this section out and —" 

Sensing a small hand tugging at his trousers, he looked down. 

"I'm sorry, Canthy, but Daddy has to concentrate on this," he said, and shot a glance at Sapphire. _Try to keep her occupied._

_How?_

Silver took a pendant from the cabinet and tossed it onto the floor. _Give her something to play with._

_That's not at all suitable for—_

_Trust me._

"All right." Sapphire scooped up the pendant and let it swing before the little girl's face. "Look at this. Isn't it pretty?" 

Acanthite fell briefly silent, looking at the pendant, then took it and cautiously put it in her mouth. After a few moments' thought, she extracted it again, squeezed it in both hands, and mashed the resulting blob onto the side of a cabinet. It clung there, a vaguely spider-like shape, and then began to crawl diagonally across the surface of the glass, leaving an irregular metallic trail. 

_And what's that supposed to be?_ Steel asked. 

"Ocopus," Acanthite said proudly, as her creation reached the edge of the cabinet, fell off with a clatter, and lay on its back with its legs waving. 

_She's got octopodes on the brain at the moment,_ Silver said, his hands moving ceaselessly over the brooch he was working on. _Ever since Nickel took her to the Brighton Aquarium._

Sapphire raised her eyebrows. _So **that** was what that was all about._

_And doubtless when you tried to palm Acanthite off on her again, she told you where you could stick—_ Feeling Acanthite tugging at his own trousers, Steel broke off and looked down. _Now what?_

_Don't just stand there,_ Silver said. _She needs something to keep her occupied._

Steel grimaced. _What, and let her melt everything in this shop?_

_Sapphire can take it back after I've finished, can't she?_

_It's bad enough when you're on your own and you act like an irresponsible child. Now we've got to cope with two of you._

_Maybe he's brought a toddler so he looks mature in comparison?_ Sapphire suggested. She unplugged the cash register and set it on the floor close to Acanthite. "Here you are, princess." 

Steel gave the little girl a stern look as she reached into the innards of the machine, extracted a circuit board, and began to squeeze various components between her fingers. Then he glanced at his fellow Operator. 

_You're letting her play with that?_

_It's a harmless enough piece of technology,_ Sapphire said. _And it didn't have any particular... associations. I can't be sure that's true of everything else in the shop._

_So along with everything else we've got to stop her touching things she shouldn't?_

Sapphire looked as if she was repressing the beginnings of a smile. _It's not as if it's something Silver would ever teach her, is it?_

 _I heard that,_ Silver said, still not looking up from his work.

A sharp detonation, accompanied by a puff of bitter-smelling smoke, proclaimed that Acanthite had happened across an electrolytic capacitor. She jumped, threw the circuit board down, and said, firmly, "No good."

"What do you mean, 'no good?'" Steel demanded.

 _Shush._ Sapphire crouched down beside Acanthite. "I'll get you something else to play with, treasure."

"No." Acanthite adopted an expression of extreme inflexibility. "Hide an' Seek."

Steel looked at Sapphire. _Meaning what, exactly?_

_You've never come across the rules of Hide and Seek?_

_Not as they apply to Elements._

_I'm sure we can improvise something._ Sapphire put her hands over her eyes, gesturing to Steel to do the same. "One, two, three, four..." 

_Ten's usually enough for her_ , Silver added. 

_Thank you._ "Five, six, seven..." 

As she counted, Sapphire listened for the sound of the toddler running about or trying to burrow under some piece of furniture, but heard nothing. 

"Eight," she concluded. "Nine, ten. Coming." 

Sapphire uncovered her eyes, and looked around. Acanthite had completely vanished. 

_Did you see where she went?_ Steel asked her. 

_I had my hands over my eyes._

_As if that would stop you._

Sapphire slowly turned, extending her senses. _No. She's just... gone._

_You don't think the little brat..._

_Ahem_ , Silver remarked. 

Steel scowled. _You don't think the young lady's got into trouble?_

_No_ , Sapphire decided. _The breach is still holding. Nothing's taken her. She can't be far._

_In that case... Pictures. Maybe she's hiding in a picture._ Steel indicated a flyblown print, one of a number on the wall. _We'll have to check them._

_She could be in a locket_ , Sapphire suggested. _Or maybe just a snapshot in a drawer._

_What if we can't find her?_

_Then I suppose we have to tell her we give up, and hope she hears us. Or wait for her to get bored._

_If she's like her father, that won't take long at all,_ Steel said, unhooking a picture and cautiously running his fingers over its frame. 

_I can still hear you_ , Silver pointed out. 

Steel went on to the next picture. _You don't say._

_I don't think she's been over here,_ Sapphire said. _No traces._

_Well, she'd better be—_ Steel broke off as his hands touched the latest picture: a sentimental watercolour of a farm. The glass shattered under his hands and, in a flurry of wool and bleating, a sheep tumbled out into the shop. Then another, and another. One of them collided with a cupboard, sending it to the ground with a shattering crash; burglar alarms began to wail. 

"I must say, that's impressive," Silver said, springing nimbly onto a cabinet. "She's not done something like that before." 

Sapphire dived after one of the sheep and briefly managed to clutch at it before, with a plaintive bleat, it shook itself loose. "She hasn't done it now," she said. "That ewe was born in the early nineteenth century. It's been trapped in that picture for the last hundred and sixty years." 

"That's irrelevant!" Steel snapped. "Get rid of them!" 

Sapphire crossed to the picture and held it out in front of her, her eyes blazing with blue light. The air shimmered, the sheep disappeared like popped soap bubbles, and the alarms fell silent. 

"What would Time want with a handful of sheep, anyway?" Silver asked. 

Steel shrugged. "No idea." 

"What do you mean, 'No idea'? You're an Operator. You're supposed to know these things." 

"I know what it can do. That doesn't mean I know why." 

_Steel,_ Sapphire interjected. _Over here._

Steel joined her. A cuckoo clock was hanging on the wall. A human might have thought it beautiful, or elaborate; Steel regarded it with distaste. The more complicated and accurate the clock, the more opportunities it presented to entities with their own agenda. 

_What about it?_ he asked. 

_It's seven minutes fast. But when we arrived, it was keeping good time._

_You mean?_

_It's worth a try._

Steel lifted the clock gently off the wall and turned it upside-down. There was a clatter of bells, followed by a 'cuckoo' sound that tailed off. Then the clock burst in a shower of cogs, springs and Alpine woodwork, sending debris in all directions across the shop, and depositing a giggling Acanthite at Steel's feet. 

"Got you," Sapphire said, picking her up. 

Acanthite wriggled in her grasp. "Again!" 

_Can we clean up what she's done so far?_ Steel asked. _And what if she does it again?_

_I'd prefer not to risk it._

Steel rounded on Silver. "How long are you going to take with that thing?" 

"I finished quite a while ago," Silver said, tossing the brooch idly from hand to hand. 

"Then why didn't you tell us?" 

"Well, you were obviously having so much fun playing with Acanthite I didn't want to spoil it." 

"So much fun..." Steel took a step in Silver's direction. "You really have no idea, do you?" 

"I try not to delve into my colleagues' innermost feelings. It can be terribly tedious." Silver vanished, reappeared beside Sapphire, and lifted Acanthite into his arms. "Now, treasure, say goodbye to your new friends." 

Acanthite waved a cheerful farewell as the two faded away. 

Steel let out a deep breath. _I suppose we'd better check that he actually did the repair._

_He did. The area's safe, at least._ Sapphire surveyed the devastation. _Now all we need to do is tidy up._

_Taking care not to reverse the repair to that brooch in the process._

_Of course._ Sapphire picked up the 'octopus', which was still shuffling across the floor with mindless persistence, and concentrated. A blue glow surrounded it, as it slowly reverted to the pendant it had previously been. 

_Make yourself useful,_ she added. _Pick up the bits of that clock and put them in one place._

Steel reluctantly dropped to his hands and knees, and began to scoop up the various wood and brass fragments. 

"You'll have to do this cabinet as well," he said. "She's left her handprints all over it." 

"Won't they wipe off?" 

"Sadly not," Steel repeated, running his finger over the hand-shaped depressions in the glass. "She's nearly gone right through." 

"No wonder Nickel won't have anything to do with her again." 

"She's not the only one. I'm an Operator, not a babysitter." 

Sapphire restored the pendant to its place and turned her attention to the remains of the cash register. "She can't help her age," she said, as the dismantled machine began to ravel itself back together. "We were all young once, remember." 

"Were we?" Steel asked. "Personally, I beg to differ."


End file.
